WHEN I THINK ABOUT MY MOST sobering moments of 2018, many of them tie to our nation’s growing inequities defined by factors like income and race. From yawning income gaps to chilling examples of people being targeted on the basis of race, gender or sexual orientation, we live in a time defined by these disparities.

So, what can forests do to make America a more equitable and inclusive country? It turns out a whole lot.

Let’s start with the troubling disparities in tree cover distribution in our cities. I can still remember the first time I saw a tree canopy map and how it correlated with income in the Washington, D.C. area. The correlation is nearly perfect — affluent areas have lots of trees, and lower income areas mostly do not.

It turns out most cities in the U.S. have this same pattern, with race also serving as a predictor of poor tree canopy. In Sacramento, Calif., for example, the city’s tree canopy gaps align closely with its communities of color.

This matters when you come to understand just how essential tree canopy is to the safety, health and happiness of people in cities. Consider this:

• Living in an area with low tree canopy can raise temperatures by 5-7 degrees during the day and up to 22 degrees at night, when health risks from heat stress are greatest for people living in homes without air conditioning.
• Nationally, urban trees remove more than 17 million tons of air pollution each year and prevent 670,000 cases of acute respiratory symptoms.

These, among many other health and happiness benefits of urban trees, are why American Forests is launching a new campaign for “Tree Equity” to assure that all people have these benefits. Our tree planting and tree care work in cities are carefully targeted to places where underserved neighborhoods are also underserved with trees.

But, the challenges in lower income areas that don’t have adequate tree cover go beyond just health and happiness. Economic opportunities are scarce in many of these communities, and people do not always have access to the right educational credentials and personal networks to break into the booming economy across our cities and nation more broadly.

That’s why American Forests is building on our Tree Equity campaign with a new “Career Pathways” initiative to create a ladder of opportunity from lower income neighborhoods into the urban tree care industry.

Powered by a generous grant from The JPB Foundation, and matched by support from Bank of America and other corporate funders, we are leading a national initiative that links community-based tree planting programs into professional apprenticeships and other career opportunities with private businesses like The Davey Expert Tree Company.

This is a perfect match: our community tree planting partnerships are based in underserved neighborhoods where unemployment can run 3-4 times the national average. Davey, and other tree care companies, have thousands of jobs waiting to be filled in the currently tight labor market. By bringing these actors together, American Forests is creating a win-win for tree care companies and these new workers while assuring that the urban forest movement will have the skilled professionals in place to care for our urban trees.

But, it is not just urban areas where people are lacking economic opportunities. Many rural areas also have high unemployment and limited opportunities for new job growth. The powerful U.S. forest sector, the source of 2.4 million jobs already in areas like forestry and manufacturing, is a great way to turn trees into new jobs in rural areas.

Last fall’s American Forests magazine flashed this potential in action with our story on turning white oak trees into whiskey and wine barrels. This sustainably managed forest products business, led by our partner and industry leader American Stave Company, is an example of how rural regions can carefully leverage their forests in sustainable and locally appropriate economic development.

We know that American Forests can’t impact all of the forces driving inequity in America, but we see a moral imperative to do our part. The examples I have described are just a few ways we can do good for America’s forests and people in one fell swoop. Much more is to come. Thanks for your support to make it possible.

The post Offshoots: Forests for All appeared first on American Forests.

KEEPING GREEN FORESTS GREEN (and healthy) has been a priority for Dana Walsh for more than a decade. Currently a silviculturist in Eldorado National Forest, Walsh has worked for the U.S. Forest Service for the entirety of her career and, in recent years, has found herself on the cutting edge of climate- informed forest restoration.

After graduating from Sierra College in 2002 with an associate’s degree in forestry, Walsh attended Humboldt State University to continue her studies. During that time she was a student trainee for the Forest Service. Upon graduating in 2005 with a bachelor’s degree in forestry, Walsh started working for the Forest Service, where she has been for the last 12 years in a number of capacities.

“The more I learned about forestry, the more I was enthralled with it and knew that it was something that I wanted to work in, study and continue to learn about,” Walsh explains.

Working in Eldorado National Forest puts a good chunk of her life in the Sierra Nevada, although she is sometimes called to work in other areas of the country. A recent trip had her working on fire restoration efforts on the South Oregon coast for four months, giving her a chance to use her skills in a different location, but she’s always glad to return home to California.

“The Sierra Nevada are a beautiful, wonderful landscape to begin with,” Walsh says. “Plus, I really like restoration forestry, and the ecology of the Sierra Nevada aligns really well with what needs to be done to make it a resilient system.”

For a significant period of time, Walsh’s work focused on restoration in forests unaffected by forest fire, making them healthier and more resilient. Thick forests that exist due to years of fire suppression can be managed to make them less susceptible to fire, an important task as wildfires become increasingly more prominent and powerful. Deciding how to manage forests is a multifaceted question that doesn’t always have one answer.

“I am a big proponent of using multiple different tools,” Walsh says. “So, I don’t think that any one method should be done everywhere. I think there’s good reason for different tools to be used, depending on what your objective is for the future.”

Management treatments that help advance forests toward resiliency vary, and Walsh’s work dealt extensively with fuel reduction through a variety of methods. Ladder fuels are reduced with the removal of trees in overly dense areas. Surface fuels can be eliminated through mastication or through piling and burning. Prescribed fire is used as a treatment on its own and as a follow-up to other fuel-reduction efforts. Such components of forest management are complex to begin with and they tend to intersect during implementation.

However, with the onset of the King Fire in 2014, her focus changed.

“I went from working on all of these thinning fuel-reduction projects with a fire component to restore ecosystem function and health for several years to the King Fire burning up or burning over almost every project that I’d worked on in the first 10 years of my career,” Walsh says.

A number of projects Walsh was working on at the time weren’t fully implemented and, thus, suffered when the 97,771-acre wildfire burned through El Dorado County. Only completed projects performed well though, according to Walsh, with resilient forest structure remaining even after the fire came through.

Following the King Fire, Walsh found herself working in the world of post-fire forest restoration efforts. Knowing that they couldn’t restore the entire fire area, Walsh and her colleagues focused on certain aspects of the land within the burn area to determine which areas to restore and which to leave to natural restoration.

One important aspect of the assessment and decision-making process is determining how to manage the restoration to best benefit the forest. The original dominant forest type is a fator as well, in addition to accounting for a stand’s vulnerability to climate change and future wildfires. Areas that are likely to naturally regenerate aren’t as high priority as areas that won’t.

“We wanted to look for where we could be successful and where it made the most sense to restore,” Walsh says. “We really looked at different topographic positions and different vulnerabilities to design the reforestation and the projects.”

In some cases, the original dominant forest type of an area has disappeared due to competing species and over-growth. In areas where fire suppression caused conifers to overtake populations of California black oak, the ideal situation would return that area to hardwoods rather than conifers. Walsh didn’t want to actively restore those areas in hopes that the California black oak makes a reappearance.

Areas restored through active management can create a resilient condition that Walsh says should be able to sustain itself and survive future fires. That is, after all, the goal of all the restoration work she’s done both in green forests and forests affected by wildfire.

“What keeps me going is the hope that we still have the ability to get ahead of some of these stand-replacing fires and create conditions where these landscapes will be resilient,” Walsh says. “We need to speed things up a lot, and I think there is some motivation and momentum going on in the Sierra Nevadas right now to do so.”

Liz Harper was an American Forests fall editorial intern and is a senior at Ohio University, studying journalism with a minor in English and a specialization in communication studies.

The post Earthkeepers: Making Forests Green Again appeared first on American Forests.

By Lea Sloan

THE FOOD FOREST that was planted last fall on a triangle of land in Dorchester is about more than trees in this under-resourced area of Boston. It’s about healing from the past and launching a bright new future for Boston green spaces.

With the support of our corporate partners — Alliance Data and its Epsilon business, American Tower and Bank of America — American Forests is working to fill a critical gap in Boston’s urban forestry capacity. We are helping local partners incubate a new citywide urban forestry nonprofit, Speak for the Trees Boston.

As recommended in the Vibrant Cities Lab’s step-by- step guide to implementing urban forestry, a community must have a strong anchor institution. An anchor organization convenes diverse stakeholders, advocates for sound policy, educates the public about the value of trees, develops tree canopy data, and plants and maintains trees where city agencies cannot. While Boston has many great conservation organizations — including some focused on urban food and trees, such as the Boston Food Forests Coalition — there was not a single group focused solely on tree canopy in Boston, a surprising fact for a city of its size.

One of the first projects of this new organization saw community members come together to create a green space on vacant land for healing, nurturing and health. Shoulder-to-shoulder with a few dozen enthusiastic Epsilon volunteers, we planted fruit trees: Asian pear, persimmon, medlar and hardy kiwi, as well as perennial strawberries and blueberries.

Pivoting on an idea as old as the dawn of agriculture and as primal as growing what you eat and sharing it, the H.E.R.O. Hope Garden (Healing, Empathy, Redemption, Oasis) will be a place for neighbors to talk to neighbors as they plant or pick, finding commonalities that run deeper than diversity, that are about food and about life.

“When you garden and produce food from the seed that you’ve planted, there’s pride in knowing that you created and nurtured this thing that is yours,” said Judith Foster, community founder of the concept of H.E.R.O. Hope Gardens, of which there are now five.

“We want to bring back hope to the community,” said Foster. “You see all the violence that has been going on. There’s a lack of hope, there’s a lack of self-worth, there’s a lack of nurturing, if you will. So, we are hoping to build a spot where people can come and just reflect, get involved, get their hands dirty, plant something and watch it grow, nurture it and repair themselves, as we repaired this spot into something new.”

The mission of the project is on point with American Forests’ core values for urban forests work building a national movement and in cities like Boston, our newest Community ReLeaf city. This effort is bringing the concept of Tree Equity to underserved neighborhoods and building local capacity to grow and manage Boston’s urban tree canopy in the communities that are most lacking in the many social, economic and environmental benefits trees provide.

These values are also shared by Epsilon, an Alliance Data company based in Wakefield, Mass. As noted by Danielle Ricketts, Alliance Data’s senior corporate affairs specialist, “Speak for the Trees’ unique approach in creating a multipurpose space for Dorchester residents is the kind of innovative collaboration that we seek to invest in and encourage others to do the same. We understand how community strength directly empowers our customers and associates, eliminating barriers and creating long-term economic sustainability. We’re eager to see how this transformation emboldens the stability of this and surrounding communities in Boston.”

David Meshoulam, executive director and co-founder of Speak for the Trees Boston, explained, “Members of the community introduced us to this empty plot as a space to transform. It was a foreclosed corner lot filled with grass and rubble where local neighborhood residents were already growing their own food in shallow wooden raised garden beds. But, half of the space was not being utilized. We worked closely with local organizations to bring to fruition their vision of planting fruit trees. The project is an example of how, when organizations come together, local communities become empowered. This is a garden for the community, by the community….with a little help from their friends.”

Lea Sloan writes from Washington, D.C., and is American Forests vice president of communications.

The post Project Showcase: Food Forests Nurture the Community appeared first on American Forests.

ReLeaf has had a visible impact on areas like this hillside on the Hubert Eaton Scout Reservation in the San Bernardino Mountains. As shown here by photos taken in 2012, 2015 and 2018, the trees planted by ReLeaf have thrived. Credit: Cheryl Nagy.

CALIFORNIA is no stranger to wild- fire. In the San Bernardino Mountains of Southern California, one project is working hard to reforest areas that were previously burnt.

Mountain Communities Wildfire ReLeaf (ReLeaf) is administered by the Mojave Desert Resource Conservation District (RCD) and works with several partners, including CalFire’s San Bernardino Unit. The project exists to oversee the reforestation of private land within the San Bernardino Mountain communities, particularly land affected by the bark beetle devastation of 2003 and the wildfires of 2003 and 2007. Over 14 growing seasons, ReLeaf, CalFire and several additional partners have worked together to plant nearly 500,000 trees.

Cheryl Nagy, the project coordinator for ReLeaf, was a volunteer when the project started in 2004, and became a staff member in 2006. ReLeaf helps the community where she and her family have spent much of their life, which was part of the reason she first became involved. Nagy coordinates hundreds of volunteers for ReLeaf ’s planting events and works to secure funding each year.

For as long as ReLeaf has existed, American Forests has been its sole funder.

In partnership with CalFire, seeds are ordered, planting is coordinated at the Southern California Edison nursery near Fresno, and delivery is scheduled in the San Bernardino Mountains. Henry Herrera, a Cal Fire forester, is the fourth such partner Nagy has had. Herrera also does environmental reviews and determines where reforestation is most needed to receive permission to plant from land- owners and to help organize plantings.

The seedlings that are ordered are grown for around a year and a half in a nursery before they are sent south. Then, the seedlings are stored in a cooler located on Hubert Eaton Scout Reservation until they can be planted.

The weather must be just right, a tricky determination in an area that experiences both intense wildfires and flooding. But once it is, Cal Fire crews and volunteers gather to plant the seedlings. Herrera and his crews help demonstrate the best way to use the given tools to plant the trees, then join in with volunteers to do the hard work.

The diversity of trees and wildlife in the area is an important aspect of the project. The areas where ReLeaf plants are meant to become healthy forests and be able to sustain themselves.

“When we’re in the field, checking those success rates, we’re also checking not only that the trees have established themselves, but that they are able to sustain the life and the environment around them,” Nagy says.

The seedlings that have been planted over the last 14 growing seasons include a mix of Jeffery pines, ponderosa pines and sugar pines. In 2020, Douglas-fir will be added to that list. These species are all carefully chosen.

“We chose the species that grew in the area prior to the disaster, and species that do not come back on their own,” Herrera says. “We want to bring back a lot of the diversity and help those trees that just aren’t reproducing.”

As someone who has been present for the entire duration of the project, Nagy has a birds-eye view of the project that not many do. When she conducts site visits, she’s able to witness how much healthier the landscape is becoming thanks to the work they are doing.

“You look at some of the areas where we planted last year and five or 10 years ago and see the size of the trees; They’re amazing,” Nagy says. “We’re seeing the habitats coming back. We’re seeing the birds, the squirrels, the deer, the mountain lions. They’re all coming back now.”

Liz Harper was an American Forests fall editorial intern and is a senior at Ohio University, studying journalism with a minor in English and a specialization in communication studies.

The post Project Showcase: Out of the Ashes appeared first on American Forests.

CORPORATE ANALYTICS and the great outdoors are a new perfect pairing thanks to Alliance Data, a leading global provider of data-driven marketing and loyalty solutions. A leader in their industry, Alliance Data, is on a mission to unlock the value of data to provide insights and drive efficiencies in global conservation efforts. To help accomplish this goal, they decided to offset the environmental impact of the company’s print productions by partnering with American Forests to plant trees in cities and large landscapes. Not only does this effort make a difference for the environment, but it also provides Alliance Data with a meaningful way to engage their associates and revitalize the communities in which they live and work.

After partnering with American Forests in 2012, Alliance Data funded a research study conducted by the Texas Trees Foundation to understand the impact of urban heat islands, which impacts metropolises, like Dallas and its surrounding region, where Alliance Data’s headquarters are located. As part of broader efforts to manage urban heat island effect, Alliance Data has been working to expand tree canopies in large metropolitan areas across the country in cities, such as Dallas, Chicago, Columbus and San Francisco.

Through American Forests, Alliance Data partnered with Speak for the Trees Boston, a new nonprofit dedicated to improving the tree canopy in the greater Boston area. Together, the organizations collaborated to transform a formerly empty lot into a community garden, food forest and gathering space in Dorchester, Mass.

“Empowering organizations, like American Forests and Speak for the Trees, to partner with municipalities to plan and use trees and green infrastructure in development will help deliver social and economic benefits to cities across the country,” said Danielle Ricketts, senior corporate affairs specialist at Alliance Data. “We recognize that our natural environment is under increasing strain, and we’re proud to help introduce Speak for the Trees into the Boston market, where it’s obviously needed and has the potential to have a huge impact.”

The H.E.R.O. Community Nurturing Garden in Dorchester is designed to be a community greenspace that connects youth and adults to nature while also providing opportunities to grow and share food. The trees planted in the garden will contribute to a healthier environment, help mitigate high temperatures and sequester carbon that would otherwise remain in the atmosphere.

“We always want to be thoughtful about what we’re doing,” Ricketts says. “We don’t want to just put trees in the ground. We want to completely understand the full impact of where we’re planting, what we’re planting and the effects it’s going to have 10 years, 20 years, 30 years down the road, as well as the environmental and economic impact.”

The post Partner Profile: Alliance Data appeared first on American Forests.

BRUCE AND CAROL BARGE consider themselves lucky to have spent their childhoods growing up in forested, rural areas — Bruce in Minnesota and Carol in Colorado.

“We took it for granted, living out in open space and nature,” Carol says.“As we’ve gotten older, we’ve realized we can’t take it for granted.”

Realizing the importance of preserving forests like those they grew up in, the Barges describe their interest in conservation as “coming back to their roots.”

Bruce and Carol have been American Forests Sequoia Circle members since 2014, and, being avid nature lovers, they’re also involved in other local and national environmental causes. This past fall, they hosted a reception in support of American Forests at their home in Napa Valley, Calif.

Conservation through tree planting appeals to Bruce and Carol, in part, because of the long-term results.

“Planting trees is making a contribution that will provide benefits for decades and even centuries into the future,” Bruce says. “It produces very tangible benefits.”

Because of its impact on future generations, Bruce advocates for more young people getting involved in conservation, for both environmental and economic reasons. He considers the field of conservation critical in tackling issues like climate change that will increasingly impact people worldwide.

Carol exudes this same passion. In 2015, she and Bruce took part in a local effort to protect 519 mature oaks in their home- town of Napa that were at risk of being removed for real estate development. Today, those oaks are still standing.

“If you can preserve those trees rather than have a sapling planted in their place, that makes a difference,” Carol says.

In recent years, the Barges have become more involved in conservation and want to continue that work, especially locally in the Napa Valley and Sonoma region.

“There’s so much science around what plants and trees do to help the environment,” Carol says. “Tree planting is so straight- forward, the payoff is so immense, and that tree gives back to the environment for decades.”

The post Donor Profile: Bruce and Carol Barge appeared first on American Forests.

Emily Russell, Director of Major Gifts

GREEN KINGFISHER. Altamira oriole. Vermillion flycatcher. Before my recent trip to the southern tip of Texas for the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival, I knew these creatures merely by their vibrant names. But, having now been on my first official birding expedition, representing American Forests alongside my colleague Eric Sprague, director of forest conservation, I can now — somewhat — confidently spot them in their natural habitat, the Texas thornscrub forest.

American Forests has intimate knowledge and experience in this extraordinary ecosystem, having worked in the Lower Rio Grande Valley for more than 20 years and helping to plant more than 2 million thornscrub trees over 4,266 acres. Birders have also been flocking to this area for many years; the festival celebrated its 25th anniversary this fall. American Forests helped mark the occasion by planting a tree in honor of the festival — a lasting symbol of the important connection between wildlife and their natural habitats.

American Forests has placed great focus and attention on the Rio Grande Valley for good reason. With increasing human development and encroachment, the region faces many challenges of protecting its remaining native habitats, such as the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge, where American Forests is partnering with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and connecting critical wildlife corridors through our partnership with the local organization Friends of the Wildlife Corridor. Through this work, we can ensure our feathered friends, and other keystone species, have a place they can still call home.

The post From the Field: Lower Rio Grande Valley appeared first on American Forests.

Sarah Schmid, Corporate Giving Manager

I RECENTLY HAD THE CHANCE to help with an American Forests’ Community ReLeaf planting in Baltimore’s Carrollton Ridge neighborhood. Being a relatively new employee at American Forests, I was very excited to get my hands dirty and see first-hand the impact our programs have in an urban community.

As we drove through the area, I couldn’t help but notice all of the beautiful Baltimore rowhouses. The historic architecture speaks to the culture of the city, but the neighborhood was really lacking green space. Luckily, we had a big group to help solve that problem.

More than 30 employees from American Forests, Bank of America and Baltimore Parks and Recreation came out to help create and fill planter boxes and plant trees around the block. At the center of our inspirational day was Carrollton Ridge Community Association’s president, Cynthia Tensley.

Cynthia has been a longtime Carrollton Ridge resident, and it is evident she has the passion for continuing to make her neighborhood a warm and inviting space for everyone. She was happy to talk to anyone who would listen about the history of the neighbor- hood and the close-knit community that has been created.

The neighbors took notice of our work as well. Many of them stopped by during the planting to ask about the work we were doing. They were very grateful and are really looking forward to having an outdoor community space to gather.

I left the planting physically tired, but mentally rejuvenated and inspired. Being able to interact with the residents that will get to enjoy this space really inspires you to push through the fatigue and continue helping more communities like Carrollton Ridge. American Forests’ mission of creating healthy and resilient forests in cities creates benefits such as cooling the summer heat and filtering urban pollutants. But, as I saw that morning, it also creates a focal point that helps the community grow together and become even more invested in their neighborhood. I look forward helping American Forests continue this great work in communities all over the country.

The post From the Field: Baltimore, Md. appeared first on American Forests.

THE START OF A NEW CONGRESS, like the start of the new year, is an important time to count blessings and dream big for the coming year.

The 116th Congress began on the heels of a remarkable legislative success in December: the 2018 Farm Bill passed with strong bipartisan support and brings important federal tools and re- sources to strengthen America’s forests.

This legislation will create jobs and timber, restore water quality and improve wildlife habitat by investing in collaborative approaches to managing our national forests through the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program (CFL-RP). Previously, the CFLRP reached its authorized funding cap, so no new projects could be added. This provision doubles the allowed spending cap to $80 million a year and extends the program authorization for five more years.

The bill also delivers conservation results on private forestlands in critical conservation areas, by increasing investments in outcomes-oriented public-private projects through the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP). This program provides funding to conservation groups and farmers to work together to cut pollution and improve water quality, in part by restoring forested lands.

It also focuses new attention on forested buffers — which are critical for water quality — thanks to Senator Robert Casey of Pennsylvania and his commitment to making the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program work better for landowners. These improvements will establish a new level of transparency and account- ability and ensure states, like Pennsylvania, can meet their forest buffer goals — planting 900 miles of forested buffers a year — in partnership with the federal government.

The bill also sparks innovation. There are key provisions from the Timber Innovation Act, that will provide funds for research and development of wood-building construction as well as wood innovation grants. Additionally, it reauthorizes authorities directing U.S. Forest Service and state counterparts to tackle forest health, wildfire and drinking water protection.

Simply put, this legislation is a win-win for Americans and America’s forests. The challenge for the new Congress is to tackle the issues that this bill did not address. At American Forests, we are dreaming big. We see a future where resilient, healthy forests thrive. To get there we need to significantly increase the federal commitment to address pest and disease infestation, rebuild stronger forests across the country, and ensure our forests are a part of a climate solution. With the support — and voices — of members like you, we will succeed!

Alexandra Murdoch writes from Washington, D.C., and is American Forests’ vice president of policy.

The post Action Center: A New Congress and Recent Legislative Victories appeared first on American Forests.

PEOPLE’S CHOICE WINNER: “Fox and the Fish” by Laurel Coffman

“It’s always so special when one unexpectedly comes upon a scene like this — and with camera in hand! Lucky you! Love it!”
— Ashia G.

“Black Throated Green Warbler” by Joshua Galicki

“Great example of why you don’t always need to try for a perfect profile! Great angle and lighting!”
— Robert M.

“What an absolutely stunning shot of the pines overlooking the melting pond. Great shot!!”
— Jennifer T.

Pine Trees with Blue Ice Melt by Tiffany Soukup

Hiding in the Green by Kinley Bollinger

“I grew up in Wyoming along the upper Green River where moose were a part of the river. Always loved seeing them and have great respect for them. Love this photo.”
— Merna W.

“A moost see!”
— Scott B.

“Trees capture my soul…truly remarkable shot! The contrasts are sharp, vivid…the ageless canyon walls… the living tree! ”
— Joni B.

Bottom Up by I-Ting Chiang

The post Last Look: Feedback from Our Community appeared first on American Forests.